Tag Archives: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Having your wages garnished can be troubling and stressful. It is horrifying when the debt for which the wages are being garnished isn’t even yours. You have very little time to claim an exemption with the sheriff’s office. You have to act quickly and immediately: file the necessary paperwork.

If your wages are being garnished for a debt that you do not owe, you need to get all the court records relating to the judgment that was entered against the debtor. This includes the filed complaint, proof of service of the complaint, and any documents that were filed after the complaint. Contact a top consumer attorney immediately, as claiming an exemption will not stop the garnishment permanently.

If you are not the debtor, or have already paid the debt, you will likely need to prove this. Proof can come in many different forms: proof that you lived somewhere else, cancelled checks, etc. More importantly, if this debt arises out of identity theft, then you must get copies of all your credit reports, file a police report, and place a fraud alert on your credit report.

Identity theft can affect a consumer for years. Filing the police report is just the first step. Once you have the police report, it may become evidence in the garnishment proceedings. You should have an advocate on your side on the day of the hearing. An attorney experienced in debt collection law on the consumer’s side is invaluable. Garnishment for a debt that is not owed by you also potentially opens up the Plaintiff to liability for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Don’t go it alone!

Knowing what a credit score is, how to read your credit score, and what comprises the score (as well as the consequences of bad credit scores), you are probably anxious to take steps to improve your credit. Here are a few actions and key points that can increase your score. You should know that there is no “magic bullet” for getting your credit to improve quickly. Before making drastic changes to how you manage your finances, you should probably talk to a professional.

Paying off debt and thereby lowering the credit utilization ratio can improve your FICO score. Alternatively, applying for and receiving credit limit increases or additional sources of credit also improves the utilization ratio. Be careful! Having more credit available may tempt you to use it, which would be worse for your score. Make sure you read our next article before running out and getting a bunch of shiny new credit cards!

As your credit history grows longer, your score can go up.

Increasing the number of types of credit in your credit history can improve your score. Categories include, but are not limited to, installment credit, revolving credit, consumer finance credit, and mortgage. Be careful, again! In order to increase the types of credit in your history, you will be taking on more debt. Watch this very carefully.

Now that you know how to improve your score, next time we’ll talk about how to avoid trashing our score.